Cameron
Tope, son of William Tope and Margaret E. Starner, was
born 19 December 1878, Knox, Holmes
Co., Ohio, and died 22 August 1957 in Clinton, Summit Co., Ohio.
He
married Gertrude Allen, who was born 5
February
1882, and died 1 July 1971 in Barberton, Summit Co., Ohio [
note 1
].
Cameron's
family went through
some pretty rough times over
the years.
Along
with large gardens and livestock, the children had to work in
the
mines with him.
Their
playing consisted of a swim in the evenings after
work.
They didn't have time to
play during the day like other children.
Lee (Leo) remembers one his jobs
as young boy was to
stand around the corner of
a building and toss beans in
air so wind coming around
the corner would blow the dirt off. The worst part for him
was
picking up the beans that dropped. He
get so tired that he
would lay on side" prop
head with his hand and
pick up beans
They planted pumpkins to
feed the pigs. Lee
said the pigs fattened real quick on pumpkins They also
went around to the neighbors with a horse and wagon
collecting their table scraps
or garbage to feed the
pigs.
Gertrude would can
hundreds of quarts of beef and
they smoked a lot of
their pork.
When Lee was a boy
his father forbade use of
the German language in their home. Back
then if you were
German it was hard to get a job, and the Klu Klux Klan wasn't too fond
of the Germans One
time when Lee and his mother were at a sale, she
spoke to him in German
(which she did behind her
husband's back) and they were overheard
Shortly
after this the Klu
Klux Klan burned a cross in their front yard. Cameron was furious with
his
wife. He
told everyone that they were Irish!
Most of the Topes had
black hair.
There
are about two handfuls that have red
hair Levi,
Cameron's father,
had red hair and a long red beard which he had to
stick in his shirt or
waist when he went out
to saw wood
For the most part, the
older Topes were quite an
aggravating bunch of people.
Even brothers and sisters
couldn't get along.
It is
thought by one of the relatives that there might possibly
be two reasons for that
one being the older Topes
had no known religion. The
last
several generations have found
themselves frequenting a place
on various church pews. They are far less
aggravating than their ancestors
before them.
In fact, they are,
for the most part a
pleasant lot to be around.
The other of the two reasons that
they were possibly an
aggravating lot began when William Tope's widow, Margaret,
married a man named Charles Miller. She
had around $700 or $800 from selling the
place and the children
thought that Miller married
for her money.
They got mad
each other and mad at
her. When
she got on in years. Miller took her to each of
kids homes trying get them
to take her in.
She was so mean and contemptible
that no one would take
her. He
packed her bags and took her to Cameron's home and
left her.
She was a real handful for
Gert. Poor
Gert! She had six children to
raise,
cranky mother-in-law and a
husband who drank up most
of their money.
To make things
little worse Cameron had a
saying that would really get
under Gert's skin.
She was
descendant of Queensbury Holland
and he was a German.
He would say, "We're the
the Topes; they aren't much but
they are worth more than
those damn Dutch!"
Toward the end when Cameron
was real sick Lee went
over to see him. He told Lee to go
on home and do his
chores that wouldn't die
until he came back. Lee
stayed
long as he dared then
had go home to do
the chores.
As soon as he was done,
he came right back to
be by his dad's side. Cameron
said, "Hi. I see
you made it!"
Marvin
didn't understand
and was slow to move, so Cameron told Lee, "Lee
give me a little push I just can't make it
quite over.
Lee touched his dad and he
died. He
"made it over."
Lee told the writer these
stories and many more.
In deepest regrets, the batteries in
the writer's tape recorder
went dead half way through
so stories couldn't be
recorded accurately.
Lee is
a gentle man who has not hardened from a life that at
times has been pretty
discouraging. He
has red hair, is quick to laugh, has a great
sense of humor and many
a great story for an
interested ear.
The writer found him an
enjoyable man who is a
credit to the Tope name.
He has a large farm, has worked hard all his life and has
a peat moss business.
Cameron and Gertrude had six children:
- Marvin Tope was
born 11 April 1902 [note 3] and died in
21 September 1970 [note 4].
- Denver Tope was born in 4
March 1904 and died in March 1969 [note 5].
- Nelson
Tope was born in 1906 and died in July 1978.
- Stella Tope was
born in March 1908
and died 22
September 1981 in
Akron, Summit Co., Ohio. She married Harry Kenner and Park Dunn.
- Vernon Tope was
born 19 December 1910, and died 25 November 2002 in Summit Co., Ohio
[note 6].
- Lee Glen Tope was born in
Barberton, Summit
Co., Ohio. He married Helen Sarah Ott on 1 September
1939. Helen was born 10 December 1909 in Stone Creek,
Jefferson Co., Ohio, and died 26 April 1994 in Barberton, Summit Co.,
Ohio [note 7].
Note:
- Except for the following
notes, all information on this page
is
from The History of the Tope Family, 1982, by Becky Darr. [Return to text]
- Ancestry.com, Social
Security Death Index, Provo, UT, USA: The Generations Network, Inc.,
2007, Ohio before 1951, 279-01-4209.
- Ohio Deaths, 1993-98
[database on-line] Provo, UT: Ancestry.com,
2001-. Original electronic data from: Ohio Department of Health. Index
to Annual Deaths, 1993-98. Columbus, OH: Ohio Department of Health.
State Vital Statistics Unit, 19xx-., Ohio Deaths 1993-98, "Electronic,"
Certificate: 071901; Volume: 20218.
- Social Security Death Index.
- Ibid, ob sit, his middle
initial is "F."
- Ibid, ob sit.
- Ancestry.com
and Ohio Department of Health. Ohio
Deaths, 1908-1932, 1938-1944, and 1958-2002 [database
on-line], Certificate: 033572; Volume: 29807.
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Updated: 29 June 2010
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